Sinn Fein, the left-wing Irish nationalist party, has won the popular vote in a general election, with the one-time political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) disrupting a duopoly of centre-right parties which have historically controlled the Republic.Ballot counts on Sunday revealed that after all 39 constituencies across Ireland were tallied, Sinn Fein received 24.5 percent of the first preference vote, almost doubling its share from the last election in 2016.
It outstripped the opposition Fianna Fail party, which won 22.2 percent, as well as incumbent Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's governing Fine Gael party's 20.9 percent.